Sleepy Hollow: Blu-ray disc DVD Review
8/24/2007 Posted by Admin
“Sleepy Hollow”
Directed by Tim Burton, written by Andrew Kevin Walker, 110 minutes, rated R.
Directed by Tim Burton, written by Andrew Kevin Walker, 110 minutes, rated R.
(Originally published Nov. 19, 1999)
Tim Burton’s 1999 film, “Sleepy Hollow,” now available in a great-looking, high definition print, is one of the best films ever made about decapitations.
Those hoping to see Washington Irving’s classic tale, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” however, should take a cue from Burton’s abbreviated title: This film plucks from “Legend” what it wants, severs what it doesn’t, and rewrites a story that needed no changes at all.
For fans of the classic, it’s disconcerting to sit through Burton’s version, especially since Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is now a New York police constable and not a school teacher. More startling is the diminished role of Brom Van Brunt (Casper Van Dien), whose presence is never given the importance Irving gave it in the original.
But then “Sleepy Hollow” has its own ideas and works on two entirely different planes--the visual and the narrative--neither of which forms a cohesive whole.
Burton and his cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki have cranked up the fog machines and dimmed the moon to create a somber, richly atmospheric film that is beautiful to look at, but the film’s characters never connect with any of it. They’re too bridled with camp, too emotionally removed, too oddly inhuman. Some might argue that that’s Burton’s style, but in “Beetlejuice,” “Edward Scissorhands” and the first two Batman films, which preceded “Hollow,” he nevertheless was able to use his unusual characters to form an emotional bond with his audience, something he doesn’t do here.
Since Depp and Christina Ricci are at the core of this film, much of its success rests on them. Ricci doesn’t come through. As Katrina Van Tassel, she is flat, never once convincing us that she’s this character, which undermines whatever chemistry she could have had with Depp, whose mannered performance is one of the film’s selling points.
If “Sleepy Hollow” fails with Ricci, it more than compensates with Miranda Richardson’s mincing performance as Lady Van Tassel and with the spectacular vision of the Headless Horseman himself. Here, Burton triumphs. With expertly choreographed scenes of action, this Horseman rides, spectacularly swinging his blade as he literally severs dozens of heads.
If that’s your thing, this film won’t disappoint. But if you were hoping for more from Burton, a director whose work has the distinction of being instantly recognizable, “Sleepy Hollow” is so hollow, it echoes.
Grade: B-
Those hoping to see Washington Irving’s classic tale, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” however, should take a cue from Burton’s abbreviated title: This film plucks from “Legend” what it wants, severs what it doesn’t, and rewrites a story that needed no changes at all.
For fans of the classic, it’s disconcerting to sit through Burton’s version, especially since Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is now a New York police constable and not a school teacher. More startling is the diminished role of Brom Van Brunt (Casper Van Dien), whose presence is never given the importance Irving gave it in the original.
But then “Sleepy Hollow” has its own ideas and works on two entirely different planes--the visual and the narrative--neither of which forms a cohesive whole.
Burton and his cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki have cranked up the fog machines and dimmed the moon to create a somber, richly atmospheric film that is beautiful to look at, but the film’s characters never connect with any of it. They’re too bridled with camp, too emotionally removed, too oddly inhuman. Some might argue that that’s Burton’s style, but in “Beetlejuice,” “Edward Scissorhands” and the first two Batman films, which preceded “Hollow,” he nevertheless was able to use his unusual characters to form an emotional bond with his audience, something he doesn’t do here.
Since Depp and Christina Ricci are at the core of this film, much of its success rests on them. Ricci doesn’t come through. As Katrina Van Tassel, she is flat, never once convincing us that she’s this character, which undermines whatever chemistry she could have had with Depp, whose mannered performance is one of the film’s selling points.
If “Sleepy Hollow” fails with Ricci, it more than compensates with Miranda Richardson’s mincing performance as Lady Van Tassel and with the spectacular vision of the Headless Horseman himself. Here, Burton triumphs. With expertly choreographed scenes of action, this Horseman rides, spectacularly swinging his blade as he literally severs dozens of heads.
If that’s your thing, this film won’t disappoint. But if you were hoping for more from Burton, a director whose work has the distinction of being instantly recognizable, “Sleepy Hollow” is so hollow, it echoes.
Grade: B-
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